Greeting card ornament combinations, assemblies, packaging and envelopes

ABSTRACT

This disclosure relates to a greeting card and more specifically to a three-dimensional greeting card configured to house an ornament and a three-dimensional envelope configured to provide sufficient internal volume to receive and wrap the greeting card and ornament combination.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/030,703 filed on Feb. 22, 2008.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This disclosure relates to a greeting card and more specifically to a three-dimensional greeting card configured to house an ornament and a three-dimensional envelope configured to provide sufficient internal volume to receive and wrap the greeting card and ornament combination.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

For many years traditional paper greeting cards have been widely used for celebratory occasions such as birthdays, graduations, weddings, and for other commercial purposes. More recently, the market has exploded with greeting cards that attempt to capture attention by means of a particular design or other entertaining quality. One of the more increasingly common uses of a greeting card is in conjunction with the transmittal of a small gift or token. Combining a greeting card and a commemorative gift provides for an enhanced commercial product in that a consumer wishing to purchase a gift may also purchase a greeting card simultaneously. Likewise, a consumer wishing to purchase a greeting card may also include a small gift or token.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A greeting card ornament assembly that contains a front panel, a middle panel, a back panel, two side panels, an upper closure tab, a lower closure tab, four side tabs, an object fixture and an object. The middle panel, back panel and two side panels are constructed to form a substantially rectangular volume in the form of an interior cavity for receiving and holding an object, such as an ornament. The four side tabs, upper closure tab and lower closure tab are insertable into the interior cavity as an opening and closing mechanism. The back panel contains at least one opening in the body of the panel, referred to as a frame. The object fixture, which holds the object, is placed into the interior cavity so that the object is located within the frame of the back panel. A second embodiment of the present disclosure contains a sound mechanism that is activated upon opening the greeting card.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a die cut of a representative greeting card ornament assembly.

FIG. 2A is a representative greeting card ornament assembly.

FIG. 2B is a representative greeting card ornament assembly with attached sound module.

FIG. 3 is a representative object-receiving cavity.

FIG. 4 is a representative object-receiving cavity with ornament.

FIG. 5 shows the object-receiving cavity being inserted into the greeting card ornament assembly and transparent plastic cover.

FIG. 6 is a back view of a representative three-dimensional envelope.

FIG. 7 is a front view of a representative three-dimensional envelope.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED AND ALTERNATE EMBODIMENTS

This disclosure relates to a greeting card and more specifically to a three-dimensional greeting card configured to house an ornament and a three-dimensional envelope configured to provide sufficient internal volume to receive and wrap the greeting card and ornament combination.

A die cut of a representative embodiment of the greeting card 100 is shown in FIG. 1. The die contains three main panels A, B, C. Three side panels D, E, F, extend between main panels A and B, main panels B and C and from the outer edge of panel C. Two panels C1, C2 also extend from the top and bottom of main panel C. Side panel D contains upper tab D1 and lower tab D2 and side panel E contains upper tab E1 and lower tab E2. Main panel A is connected to side panel D along fold line 10. Side panel D is connected to main panel B along fold line 12, to tab D1 along fold line 18, and to tab D2 along fold line 20. Main panel B is connected to side panel E along fold line 14. Side panel E is connected to main panel C along fold line 16, to tab E1 along fold line 18 and to tab E2 along fold line 20. Main panel C is connected to side panel F along fold line 22, to tabbed panel C1 along fold line 18 and to tabbed panel C2 along fold line 20. Tabbed panel C1 is folded along fold line 24 to create the tab portion of the panel C1 and tabbed panel C2 is folded along fold line 26 to create the tab portion of panel C2.

Main panel A is double-sided and represents both the front face of the greeting card and the inside left panel of the greeting card. It may bear graphical and/or textual content and messages or other features or functions.

Main panels B and C and side panels D, E and F are constructed to form a three-dimensional cavity in the form of a compartment or structure with volume for receiving and holding an object. To create the three-dimensional cavity, main panel B is folded along fold lines 12 and 14, main panel C is folded along fold lines 16 and 22, and side panel F is glued or otherwise attached to side panel D. To create a closed three-dimensional cavity, tabs D1 and E1 are folded along fold line 18, tabs D2 and E2 are folded along fold line 20. Then, the tabbed portions of panels C1 and C2 are inserted into the three-dimensional cavity thereby enclosing the cavity on all four sides.

A representative embodiment of the assembled greeting card 100 is shown in FIG. 2A. According to this embodiment, Panel C, which is now the inner right side panel of the greeting card 100, contains one opening, in the shape of a square (hereinafter referred to the “frame” 30), which is surrounded by panel C. In other embodiments, there may be more than one opening in any geometric shape or design.

In a second embodiment of the present disclosure, shown in FIG. 2B, a sound module 31 is added to the inside upper portion of the internal cavity of the greeting card 100. In other embodiments, the sound module may be otherwise located somewhere inside the internal cavity of the greeting card 100, based on the size of the object and the fixture contained within the cavity. A slide tongue mechanism 33 is placed between panels A and C so that when the greeting card 100 is opened the switch will close and trigger the sound module 31 to play a pre-recorded message or music clip. The sound module 31 contains a circuit board (not shown), a battery source (not shown), a digital storage device (not shown), a switch (not shown), a slide tongue mechanism 33, and a speaker (not shown).

The three-dimensional cavity or compartment defined by panels B, C, D, and E can be configured for or used to hold any type of object or objects which can fit within the cavity. In the disclosed example, an object which has relevance to the subject matter of the greeting card 100, such as a Christmas ornament, is held within the cavity and positioned within the frame 30 of panel C. Depending on the size and shape and material of the object, it may be inserted by itself in the cavity, multiple objects in the same cavity, or in combination with another object or article.

In this particular example, the holder or fixture shown in FIG. 3 is an exemplary form of a formed object fixture 32 which has an external dimension or configuration which fits within the cavity, e.g., a generally rectangular form which fits within the perimeter walls B, C, D and E of the cavity. Preferably, the object fixture is positioned within the cavity so that the object 36 is located or centered within the frame. The object fixture 32 can be in one form a vacuum formed fixture with height or thickness which corresponds generally to the height of the side perimeter walls D, E, or contain an object-receiving cavity 34 (as shown in FIG. 3) which is relief formed and shaped to receive an object 36. The object-receiving cavity 34 can be shaped to an exterior outline or configuration of the object 36, such as for example the profile of an ornament, as shown in FIG. 4. One or more locking tabs 38 may be provided at a perimeter of the object-receiving cavity 34, which protrude slightly into the area of the object 36, and past which the object 36 is moved in order to be fully inserted and held within the object-receiving cavity 34. This locking feature of the object fixture 32 further secures the object 36 within the entire greeting card ornament assembly 100. Also, formed as part of the object fixture 32 may be one or more indents 40 about a perimeter of the object-receiving cavity 34 in order to facilitate manual removal or extraction of the object 36 from the fixture 32. When the object 36 is located within the opening in the frame 30, the removal of the object 36 from the object-receiving cavity 34 of the fixture 32 can be done directly through the frame opening, i.e., without removal of the object fixture 32 from the internal cavity of the greeting card 100. The object fixture with enclosed object is inserted into the greeting card 100 through either of the tabbed openings C1, C2 located at the top and bottom edge of the cavity, as shown in FIG. 5.

Once the greeting card ornament assembly is assembled and the object fixture with object is inserted into the cavity in the greeting card, a four-sided transparent plastic cover 42 is inserted over panels B and C or the greeting card cavity, also shown in FIG. 5. The transparent plastic cover 42 contains two main panels with the same dimensions as panels B and C, and a top and bottom panel with the same dimensions as panel C1 and C2. The sides of the transparent plastic cover 42 are open so that the cover 42 can easily slide over the greeting card cavity and protect the front and back sides of the greeting card 100 and in particular, shield the frame 30 located in panel C so that the object or ornament contained inside is not damaged.

This disclosure further includes a three-dimensional envelope 42, shown in FIG. 6. The envelope 44 is configured with side walls V, W, X located along three aligned edges of two opposed main panels T, U of the envelope 44 and a flap closure Z located along a fourth side. The side walls V, W, X, are preferably pleated for easy storage and shipping. The width of the side walls is equal to or greater than a thickness of the greeting card ornament assembly 100 in order to receive and hold it therein.

The foregoing embodiments of the present invention have been presented for the purposes of illustration and description. These descriptions and embodiments are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed, and obviously many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above disclosure. The embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain the principle of the invention and its practical applications to thereby enable others skilled in the art to best utilize the invention in its various embodiments and with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. 

1. A greeting card ornament assembly comprising: a front panel; a middle panel, a back panel and two side walls constructed to form a substantially rectangular volume in the form of an interior cavity for receiving and holding an object; an upper closure tab, a lower closure tab and four side tabs, said tabs being insertable into the interior cavity as a cavity opening and closing mechanism; an object fixture; an object; wherein the front panel is connected along a fold line to the interior cavity; the back panel contains at least one opening in the body of the panel; and the object fixture is placed into the interior cavity so that the object is located within the at least one opening of the back panel.
 2. The greeting card ornament assembly of claim 1 wherein a transparent four-sided plastic sleeve is placed over the middle and back panels that form the interior cavity.
 3. The greeting card ornament assembly of claim 1 wherein the object is a Christmas ornament.
 4. The greeting card ornament assembly of claim 1 wherein the length, width and height of the object fixture is approximately the same as the length, width and height dimension of the interior cavity.
 5. The greeting card ornament assembly of claim 1 wherein the length of the object fixture is less than the length of the interior cavity.
 6. The greeting card ornament assembly of claim 1 wherein the width and height dimensions of the object fixture are approximately the same as the width and height dimensions of the interior cavity.
 7. The greeting card ornament assembly of claim 1 further comprising a sound module contained within the interior cavity, said sound module being comprised of a circuit board, battery source, digital storage device, switch, slide tongue mechanism and speaker.
 8. A greeting card ornament assembly comprising: a left front panel; a right three-dimensional cavity; an object fixture; an object, wherein the left front panel is connected along a fold line to the right three-dimensional cavity; the right three-dimensional cavity contains an opening and closing mechanism at the top and bottom of the cavity; the right three-dimensional cavity contains at least one opening on the inner face of the cavity; the object fixture contains the object; and the object fixture is inserted into the three-dimensional cavity.
 9. The greeting card ornament assembly of claim 8 wherein a transparent four-sided plastic sleeve is placed over the three-dimensional cavity.
 10. The greeting card ornament assembly of claim 8 wherein the object is a Christmas ornament.
 11. The greeting card ornament assembly of claim 8 wherein the length, width and height of the object fixture is approximately the same as the length, width and height dimension of the interior cavity.
 12. The greeting card ornament assembly of claim 8 wherein the length of the object fixture is less than the length of the interior cavity.
 13. The greeting card ornament assembly of claim 8 wherein the width and height dimensions of the object fixture are approximately the same as the width and height dimensions of the interior cavity.
 14. The greeting card ornament assembly of claim 8 further comprising a sound module contained within the interior cavity, said sound module being comprised of a circuit board, battery source, digital storage device, switch, slide tongue mechanism and speaker.
 15. A greeting card ornament assembly and three dimensional envelope wherein the greeting card ornament assembly comprises: a left front panel; a right three-dimensional cavity; an object fixture; an object, wherein the left front panel is connected along a fold line to the right three-dimensional cavity; the right three-dimensional cavity contains an opening and closing mechanism at the top and bottom of the cavity; the right three-dimensional cavity contains at least one opening on the inner face of the cavity; the object fixture contains an object; and the object fixture is inserted into the three-dimensional cavity, the three-dimensional envelope comprises: a front panel connected to a back panel along three side panels; and a flap closure connected to the top edge of the front panel.
 16. The greeting card ornament assembly and three-dimensional envelope of claim 15 wherein the object is a Christmas ornament.
 17. The greeting card ornament assembly and three-dimensional envelope of claim 15 wherein a transparent four-sided plastic sleeve is placed over the three-dimensional cavity.
 18. The greeting card ornament assembly and three-dimensional envelope of claim 15 wherein the width and height dimensions of the object fixture are approximately the same as the width and height dimensions of the interior cavity.
 19. The greeting card ornament assembly and three-dimensional envelope of claim 15 wherein the side panels of the envelope are pleated.
 20. The greeting card ornament assembly and three-dimensional envelope of claim 15 wherein the width of the side panels of the envelope is equal to or greater than the thickness of the greeting card assembly.
 21. The greeting card ornament assembly and three-dimensional envelope of claim 15 wherein the greeting card ornament assembly contains a sound module within the three-dimensional cavity. 